Congress trying to make it easier to unsubscribe (again)

Two elected officials hope their new bipartisan bill will help finally put an end to the mountains of unwanted subscription renewal fees plaguing everyday consumers. Mark Takano, D-Calif. and Mark Amodei, R-Nev. reintroduced the Unsubscribe Act this week, which aims to ban companies from employing unnecessarily complex and obtuse cancellation policies.

“Subscription traps have become an accepted inconvenience for American consumers. Too many companies rely on deceptive business models that force people to jump through hoops just to cancel,” Representative Amodei said in a joint statement. “We all live busy lives, and remembering to cancel after a free trial shouldn’t be another item on the to-do list.”

Surprise subscription renewal fees are difficult enough to track in everyday life, but passing legislation to rein in the costly annual expenditures seems even harder to accomplish. After years of bipartisan lobbying efforts, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finally announced a “click-to-cancel” rule in 2023. However, courts nullified the FTC ruling on a technicality in July 2025–just days before it was set to go into effect. Since then, the fight has continued to fix a broken system that regularly costs households as much as $200 a year in sneaky, unwanted subscriptions.

“During a time when everything is more expensive, corporations are cashing in subscription models that rely on a consumer forgetting to cancel a free trial,” Rep. Takano added. “Corporations haven’t put into place commonsense reforms like ending a subscription just as easily as signing up for one.”

If enacted, the new law would require all companies to receive explicit opt-in confirmations from customers before charging them full price after the end of a free or discount-rate trial. The sign-up process must also “clearly and conspicuously” explain subscription terms, and make it as easy to cancel as it was to initially enroll.

As The Guardian first reported on January 13,, Rep. Takano has regularly advocated for similar legislative action since 2017. His most recent attempt in 2021 only garnered Democratic support in the House, although a companion Senate bill has had bipartisan backing for years.

So far under the Trump administration, the FTC has selectively enforced certain subscription fee-related actions, such as a $7.5 million settlement with the ed-tech company Chegg in September 2025. Comprehensive reforms have yet to materialize, however. The FTC quietly published a consumer group-led click-to-cancel petition in December 2025, and accepted public comments on it until January 2, 2026. 

With the Unsubscribe Act, legislators hope to bypass the ongoing regulatory hold-up.“This time…there’s interest across the aisle,” explained Rep. Takano.

 

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